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Friday, November 27, 2015

Quick Update!

Sorry I haven't updated in a while! Some of you have asked if I'm alright and I certainly appreciate the concern. I'm in equal parts hibernation and preparation mode.

In terms of Witchy Words, I'm in the process of reading (and rereading) my library so I can update my reading list. It's been a massive project, much more so than I imagined considering my library has more than doubled since I last talked about it in 2013. Some of the books I haven't read since before 2013, and I certainly want to do more than just list out what I own; I'd like to talk about the pros and cons of each book and suggest companions and/or alternatives. I've been mostly buckling down for that post.

Outside of the blog, on top of PT and work, I've been preparing for our housewarming party on December 5th. This has been an immense amount of work, too. Our new house is a bit bigger, so it required more furniture on the extremely tight budget that moving twice in a month created. But they don't call me the Thrift Store Queen for nothin'.

Less than $45 for all three in mint condition.

Sometimes my thriftiness gets me in trouble. Take the chair above. I picked it up for $17.49 and didn't blink. Later that day, we went to a bargain furniture resale store. They had sectionals for between $150 and $200, so I figured they'd be in range for single chairs. Turns out, they had exact replicas of the chairs above with no price. When I inquired how much, the sales rep told me their entire background story: Something about a divorce. He then asked me how much they were worth to me. I was frank: I paid $17.49 for one just like these at another store. I had to repeat the $17 part several times (he thought I said $70). When it finally sunk in, he scoffed and said "There's nothing like that here." He then turned and walked away, but not after flinging over his shoulder "$150 a piece."

Rude, right? Maybe not. Turns out, these chairs are expensive and I had no idea. I found the skeleton of this exact chair at three different stores, and each wanted between $30 and $50 for them without the cushion. So maybe $150 a chair wasn't too far fetched.

I'm proficient in removing negative energy from a divorce. I'm not proficient in spending $300 for two used matching chairs. Needless to say, we didn't take them.

The biggest impediment has been trying to solve what to do with the roommate's old room. My husband and I have always rented two bedroom apartments prior to renting houses. Once we did rent houses, we would rent enough space to have a spiritual room, but never to have a third spare room. This house has even more bonus rooms, one of which we're using for the spiritual room, another we're turning into an entertainment room and the third is an exercise space. So when we asked the roommate to leave, we really weren't sure what to do with his old space.

Seeing a theme in some of my purchases this weekend. All of these came from different stores.

Inspired by my recent foray into reading and rereading, we're turning that room into a reading room. We don't have a TV in our front room (our preference) so it gives us a space to put that along with all of our gaming systems. I also repurposed the two tall black shelves from our last front room into the spiritual room, which also means there was no space for our books, movies or some of the figurines. Making the ex-roommate's bedroom a reading room meant, with the purchase of two new cheap shelves, we could have a space for all of our books.

$5 for the set!

Bonus: The two chairs we ended up selecting for the room cost a total of $37. We also bought a rug to tie the chairs together, which worked out perfectly! The rug brought the total chair cost to $54.

Still less than $300.

Honestly, while it's been fun to go thrift store shopping and buy things for the house, it's also been a bit nerve-wracking. Moving has drained us monetarily. I'm not terribly afraid to admit that because I think it honestly would drain anyone to move twice in 30 days when they hadn't planned to move at all. To make matters worse, my job is up in the spring, summer and early fall, and down during the winter. I typically save for this, and I had saved more than enough, but all that money went to deposits and whatnot. We've scrounged up enough money to buy what we need for the house and took out a tiny credit building loan to finish out the rest. But every time I swipe my card, I am acutely aware of the squeeze. I wish I could relax, because everything is going to be okay. We're doing fine. We're just tightening our belts once this is over with.

I could space the purchases out, but I really just want this place to feel like home. It's hard for a place to feel like home when you have whole rooms of empty, disorganized space as a constant reminder of your recent move. I don't think that isn't a merited feeling given how the past, I don't know, eight years have been. We've moved every year since we've been married, sometimes more than once in a year. I'm dying to put down some roots somewhere. So, while these purchases may make this winter kind of tight, putting furniture into rooms is my way of saying "We're staying here for a long while." At least I'll have a chance to read a book in my reading room while the snow is falling, or enjoy the fireplace on the comfort of my own couch, or have enough seating in the sitting room for my entire circle when they visit. Maybe we'll have a movie night in the theater where people bring their own movies over or we could do Drunk Divination night in the spiritual room (again!). I can work on culling my inflammation in the exercise area or fall asleep to the sound of the TV while cozy in my new comforter in our bedroom. None of these things cost money once they're put together (well, aside from the electricity, but that's manageable). But the payoff is that they give me a space that I can relax in and enjoy.

They make this place home and that's worth the squeeze.

In the meantime, enjoy this photo of me and my husband enjoying our first Thanksgiving by ourselves in our new home. One family's got a bad cold (I'm immunocompromised) and the other's out of town, so we got a tiny turkey and did our own thing.

Happy Turkey Day to all of my American readers!

Posts are coming soon. Just let me get through our housewarming party on December 5th. Thank you for your patience!

10 comments:

I feel the pain of moving once a year (hubs was military and will move for school in another year) but not eight years in a row. I can't even imagine. I'm dying to put down my own roots and call a place home. Each time we move I know that it's not long term and that puts a damper on it feeling like home.

I understand that feeling well. We're renters, so while we have a bit more of an elongated guarantee (or maybe not, given our history), no place we're renting is truly ours. I think about it every time I put a new nail in the wall to hang something or put a scuff on a corner or so on and so forth. I can't wait to buy, but that's a ways off. Until then, I'm hoping this place is as close to mine as I can get. Hang in there! Military life is hard but it eventually stabilizes. You'll get there.

Oh the joys of a large space. Don't feel like you have to fill everything up at once. I have to stop myself because in the rush to make things feel put together, I end up with things I don't really love. And when you are short on cash luck us, and apparently you, it makes you feel guilty later. Spend time putting things together and do it slowly. Invest in things you love and you'll be a lot happier. Our new home may be in shambles and mostly empty, but what we do have, I wouldn't part with for a very long time.

I know it seems like a rush to get it done before our Housewarming party, but everything I've bought I've genuinely liked. Those three ivory accent chairs went into our front room - and matched perfectly with the couch we already have. The two chairs we bought for the reading room are perfect for each of us, and the rug has a very similar pattern to mine with the colors of both of our chairs, so it really brings the room together. I am rushing it because I do want this place to feel like home, but I'm methodically rushing it and refuse to pick up anything that doesn't match our style and budget. Some of it is a larger space issue, some of it is that things we previously owned got damaged in the move (ie both of our nightstands fell apart, one of my wood-based lamps got a HUGE chunk taken out of it, etc), and some of it is that our style is growing up a bit. So I've definitely had fun with it. I really want to just settle in by December 5th and enjoy the space for a few years. I'm sure I'll replace a few items here and there but, for a while, the house will be done. They call me the Thrift Store Queen. I've got this. :)

Oh, I am so very glad that you're okay, even if you're insanely busy! I know how you feel about nesting and wanting to get everything "liveable" as soon as possible--not perfect, but fully functioning. That's an important aspect of new spaces for me as well. Glad to hear from you and I look forward to pictures from the housewarming party (when you get time to breathe :) )

After getting it set up, there's still a slew of things I'd like to do. Our bedroom needs wall decor, the theater could use some dividers and I'd love to get matching L-shaped desks for the office, but that comes with time. I just want thing to feel like home, and they finally do! Thank you so much!

Hope the housewarming party went well! Looking forward to hearing about that and the book reviews. I'm a sucker for a good book, and I have some of the books you recommended in your review 2 years ago, so more reviews and suggestions will be much appreciated! Happy moon's day

My library has expanded significantly since that update, so I'm hoping I can list out some new recommendations. It's just taking an immense amount of time. I highly underestimated how big of a project it was, but I think it will be worth the time spent in the end. Thank you so much for reading!

I'm Marietta, a nontheistic witch mixing modernity with traditional practices. My blog focuses on my journey with my familiars and connected spirits, diving deeper into my work with the Man in Black and my psychopomp guide D. Here, I present my rituals, altars and spells as needed while exploring witchcraft theory and history.